Marie Masa

Regional Sales Manager
510-426-9983
mmasa@herecomestheguide.com

When we interview at Here Comes The Guide, once in a while a candidate comes along that simply speaks to us at a gut level. Marie was one of those women. She exudes a level of competence that is compelling but does so with a sense of humility and a heart of service that makes her immediately likable. She's a passionate advocate for neuro and cultural diversity, and is bold enough to speak her truth; but does so with abundant amounts of grace. She's the woman you want in your corner when facing any challenge—she'll give it to you straight but also have your back—all while figuring out the best resolution. We are so grateful that we have her as an advocate for our wedding venue clients and, even more so, for our sisterhood.

Insider Info

Pronouns: she / her / hers

Familial Status: I’ve been mar­ried to my best friend for 10 years and we have three ridicu­lous­ly adorable boys (and, no, we aren’t going to ​“go for the girl” and have anoth­er. We’re closed for busi­ness, folks!)

Favorite way to wind down after a hard day: All I need is a couch, a cup of hot cocoa, and a real­ly good TV show, pod­cast, or book. Oh, and my kids absolute­ly have to be in bed. There is no ​“wind­ing down” while the wild things roam!

Guilty pleasures: Dance Moms and eat­ing a bunch of peanut but­ter when I’m away from my kids. (2 out of 3 are aller­gic to peanuts and tree nuts!)

Secret talent: Let’s call it…“researching” peo­ple on the inter­net. Oh, your friend is dat­ing some­one new? All I need is a name and I’ll give you ALL the dirt.

What pushes my panic button: Packed park­ing lots.

Something not a lot of people know about me: I’m irra­tional­ly afraid of bugs. Not just spi­ders (though they most cer­tain­ly ter­ri­fy me), but harm­less ones like moths and flies, too. I think it’s because I can’t pre­dict their tra­jec­to­ry and despite my best efforts to avoid it, they always end up hit­ting me in the face.

Fictional character I most identify with: Prob­a­bly Hermione Granger. Except more Hufflepuff‑y.

Favorite quote: “The way to get start­ed is to quit talk­ing and begin doing.” —Walt Dis­ney

What I love most about my job: Being able to con­nect with peo­ple! I man­aged wed­ding venues for 10 years before join­ing HCTG and I relate so strong­ly to the hard­work­ing folks run­ning our part­ner venues. It’s such a priv­i­lege to earn a liv­ing build­ing mean­ing­ful rela­tion­ships and strate­giz­ing with like-mind­ed individuals!

Most embarrassing moment: I acci­den­tal­ly slapped Justin Tim­ber­lake in the face once. My dad was a pro­fes­sion­al musi­cian and I was with him and a friend back­stage at the Latin Gram­mys when I saw him. My friend and I (both around 15 at the time) were about to walk past Justin when he — see­ing two girls at prime ​‘N Sync-lov­ing age — very kind­ly tossed us a bone by smil­ing and wink­ing at us. My friend played it cool and sim­ply waved back. I, on the oth­er hand, was in shock. I wait­ed until he was just about to pass us before impul­sive­ly shov­ing my hand in his face while shout­ing ​“HI!” The image of him pulling his head back and say­ing ​“Whoooooooa!” is for­ev­er burned into my memory.